Tuesday, September 7, 2010

FBI Swoops in on BP (NYSE:BP) Blowout Preventer

In anticipation of examining the failed blowout preventer on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, the FBI was at the surface when the 5-story device was brought to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, after being removed and replaced by a fully-functioning, new blowout preventer.

The original blowout preventer failed to do its job of keeping oil from being released into the waters of the Gulf, making it the primary piece of evidence for civil, and possibly, criminal charges in the near future.

It took almost 30 hours for engineers to lift the giant preventer from the bottom of the Gulf to the surface, which was a journey of about a mile. The device weighs in at 300 tons.

The huge device, which if fifty feet tall, will be moved to New Orleans to be stored and eventually examined.

Legal issues must be faced as some oil companies are challenging the U.S. government being the sole examiner of the rig.

Cameron International (NYSE:CAM) unsuccessfully attempted to keep the blowout preventer from being removed in order to take photos of the object to see if there had been any damage during the removal process. That was denied by a judge.